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How Many Victims Do We Know The Names Of?

Earlier this monrh, I commented on an editorial by Herald Sun freelance columnist, Alice Clark about naming perpetrators of horrific crimes. This was just after the 20 year anniversary of one of the worst crimes committed in Australian history, the Port Arthur Massacre in Tasmania. I’ve been thinking about the same thing about reporting terrorism.

In 2011, media outlets and social media outlets, especially Twitter, published videos of the barbaric acts committed by these thugs! I don’t doubt that journalists were reluctant, but yet, there’s more exposure for the mongrels.

Since the start of the Syrian civil war, countless articles and editorial pieces have been written, not just about the atrocities committed by Islamoc State (IS), but also the names of new recruits, including their new Arabic names. You see it time and time again. Yet, who can name a victim? Lindt Cafe manager, Tori Jonson and lawyer Katrina Dawson are the ones that immediately come to mind. Yet, the bombing in Turkey at a democracy rally? Blank. Any of the 29 killed at an Iraqi football game in March this year? No, I don’t. Yet, names of terrorists is repeatedly splashed all over the media.

I’ll say it again, I agree with what Alice Clarke wrote. We should remember the victims of crime and terrorism more than the perpatrators. Expose them, yes, but not at yhe expense of the dignity of the victims.